1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cotton harvesting implements and, more specifically, to an accumulator arrangement for a cotton harvester having on-board cotton processing such as compacting.
2) Related Art
Cotton harvesters having on-board module forming structure, such as described in co-pending application Ser. No. 09/056,259 filed Apr. 6, 1998 and entitled DENSIFICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HARVESTED COTTON OR OTHER SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIAL now U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,446, provide a compact bale or module directly on the harvester to reduce the amount of support equipment needed in the field and minimize harvester idle time during offloading. The on-board processing structure includes a bale handling system for moving a formed bale rearwardly to prepare the bale chamber for a second bale with little or no harvester down time.
An accumulation area or similar structure for harvested crop is also desirable to allow harvesting to continue during brief interruptions in the operation of the module forming structure or other crop processor. Problems with such an accumulation area include regulating the cotton metered from the area to avoid excessive cotton flow that would clog the input to the processor, while assuring a generally continuous flow for uniform processing. If cotton flow varies too much, the integrity of the formed bale in the module builder can be jeopardized. To provide a good mat of material to a bale chamber of a module builder, the flow should be uniform and the cotton should also be uniformly distributed across the width of the in-feed area to the chamber. Metering cotton from an area with uniformity and without clumping has proved to be troublesome. Running the processor continuously, particularly in low yield conditions, results in unnecessary wear and power consumption. There are times the flow from the accumulator must be completely stopped, for example, when the processor is unloading. An accumulator system that can simply and reliably provide adequate storage with uniform feeding and distribution across the width of the in-feed area with a flow cut-off feature is required. Also, an accumulator system can add height to the area of the harvester behind the cab and result in problems with transport clearance.